


As Far As the Eye Can See

by Swordy



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Altissia (Final Fantasy XV), Bittersweet, Fluff, Gen, Spoilers for FFXV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-09-30 23:03:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20455019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swordy/pseuds/Swordy
Summary: Before they return to Insomnia to defeat Ardyn, Noct gets one last opportunity to travel back to the past. He can’t change his fate, but there is something he’s determined to do for Ignis.





	As Far As the Eye Can See

**Author's Note:**

> I’m currently replaying FFXV and have been avoiding going to Altissia for obvious reasons. Then I realised I could go and piss about on the royal vessel since that wasn’t available first time around. I decided to do the quest to find Bismarck but he wasn’t for being found. I almost gave up, but something compelled me to keep looking and when I realised what it was, I knew I had to write this story. I hope you enjoy it. <3
> 
> Come look me up on Twitter for more FFXV rambling. I’m @SgtNoSpecs

The dreamscape is dark, but not threatening in its emptiness. Ten years inside a crystal gives a person a healthy tolerance for nothingness and Noct simply waits it out until diaphanous shapes begin to form in front of him. They never completely solidify—they’re more a _suggestion_ of his ancestors rather than the recognisable faces from his history books. He doesn’t speak; they’ll be curious to know why he’s seeking an audience with them.

“Noctis Lucis Caelum, one hundred and fourteenth in the line of Lucis. What is it you want?”

“To go back,” he answers simply, knowing they will understand his request without the need for further explanation. There is silence for a moment, then—

“You cannot change anything. Your fate is still to die, even if you return to the past.”

“I know that,” Noct replies, undeterred. He’s watched enough TV to know time travel is not to be screwed with. Not the big stuff at any rate.

“Yet you insist on going back?”

“_Please_,” Noct says softly. “I know the main strands of fate are fixed. I’m not trying to change my destiny. There's just something I need to do first.”

Another pause and more silence. Noct imagines them conferring with each other. He tries not to think about them refusing his request.

“Very well. When you wake, Umbra will be there.”

Relief washes over him. “Thank you.”

OoOoO

The other three are still sleeping. Noct manages to extricate himself from the tent and true to the old king's word, Umbra is waiting patiently for him beside the campfire now reduced to a pile of smouldering embers.

“Hey, Boy. Long time no see, huh?”

Umbra looks at him and wags his tail in answer.

“Okay,” Noct says, glancing over at the ruined Crown City just visible in the darkness. Their destination in the morning, even though there will be no dawn to proclaim it as such. “Let’s do this.”

OoOoO

“Nocttttt, are we almost done out here? I’m getting sea sick. Like, sick of the sea.”

Noct looks over and blinks once, twice. He remembers Prompto saying that. This is the weirdest part about being able to travel back to the past—he’s here with his present day memories but everyone else is completely unaware that he's a slightly different version of Noct to the one that was standing at the helm seconds earlier. Before he can answer Prompto's complaint, Ignis gets in there first, the dryness of his tone evidently unaffected by the vast body of water surrounding them.

“Funny, seeing how excited you were when we first set sail.”

Noct almost misses Gladio's teasing follow up—_so excited he tired himself out_—because he’s busy studying Ignis. Obviously he remembers this day well enough to ask to return to it, but he realises then how much of the detail he’d missed first time around. Ignis looks tired. His hair, normally so impeccably styled, falls soft and ungelled across his forehead as he sits at the back of the yacht poking furiously at his glasses in an attempt to stay awake against the soporific movements of the vessel.

Or maybe he _had_ noticed, even if it hadn’t been a conscious thing. On some level, Ignis's obvious exhaustion had probably been the catalyst for him acquiescing to Prompto’s request to head back, cutting short their explorations of the oceans once Cid had okayed them to take out the royal yacht.

Gladio had teased Prompto, but the truth is they’d all been excited at the prospect of getting to set sail. He and Gladio had been looking forward to the fishing, Prompto the opportunity for photographs. Ignis's excitement had come following a trip to Maagho when his eyes had caught on an article someone had left lying on the bar.

“Why don’t we head back?” Ignis says, pulling Noct from his thoughts. “It’s okay. We can come back another day and try again.”

“No!” His vehemence surprises them both. He reins it in and tries again. “We'll weigh anchor and get some rest, but we're not giving up.”

Ignis eyes him curiously for a moment, then apparently decides to let it go. “Very well, Noct. It’s your decision.”

OoOoO

Turns out you really _can_ get sick of the sea. The beauty and the majesty of the waves can only command the attention for so long before you start to wish for ground that doesn’t sway beneath your feet.

“Come on, Noct,” Prompto tries again, his head hanging off the end of the bench seat, camera resting precariously on his chest. “Don’t you wanna get back to Altissia? We can get Lasagne from Maagho! Or, or we can go to Totomostro!”

Noct's stomach growls obligingly. A hot meal would be great about now and a trip to the Totomostro—hell, even just a few games of _Justice Monsters Five_ in that dingy arcade would be a welcome break from all the water. But instead he turns back to the wheel, his eyes going to where Ignis is resting against the rail, mug of coffee gripped between his fingers as he gazes out to sea.

“No.”

OoOoO

Gladio's complaints have a more practical angle. Periodically he mentions their fuel situation, which isn’t an unreasonable thing to do considering the last thing they want is to be stranded in the middle of the Cygillan Ocean. The gauge says they’re down to half a tank and their food supplies could also do with freshening up, but they’re not going back to Altissia. Not yet, anyway.

Even Ignis's enthusiasm is waning. He tells Noct quietly that it doesn’t matter. Maybe part of him even means it. Ignis's gaze, metaphorically speaking, has always been on other people's horizons, so it’s clear he’s growing uncomfortable at the prospect of inconveniencing his friends with this personal flight of fancy. But Noct tells him no, they’re going to stay just a bit longer.

OoOoO

For a moment he thinks it’s an illusion. They’ve seen plenty of seagulls since they’ve been at sea, but none in a large enough group to be called a flock and certainly none exhibiting the behaviour they’ve been advised to look out for. Gladio spots them first, his hesitant '_hey_' becoming a more urgent and enthusiastic '_quick, get over here_!’

Noct hurries to join the others at the bow, shielding his eyes from the glare of the sun. And there they are; circling, wings spread wide as they ride the thermals in the cloudless sky. Too many to count.

“Do you think he’s here?” Prompto asks, voice hushed with uncharacteristic reverence.

“Dunno,” Noct answers, aware of his heart beating just that little bit faster. “Why don’t we get a bit closer and find out?”

He hurries back to the controls, fingers fumbling to switch on the sonars while the others remain up front, like the birds could disappear if they take their eyes off them for a second. He accelerates gently until they're only fifteen or so meters from the circling gulls then kills the engine completely. His eyes flick to the silent sonar and his heart sinks.

Nothing. And then—

“Holy crap!”

At Gladio's shout, Noct tears his eyes from the too-large shape that’s suddenly appeared on the sonar, almost tripping over his feet in his haste to get back on deck. He catches a glimpse of Prompto's face—his eyes comically large—and is about to ask what they’ve seen when Bismarck decides to make his presence known.

The narwhal propels himself upwards with a grace that should be impossible for a creature of his size. Midair, Bismarck twists, landing on his back and creating a wave that rocks the boat so violently they all find themselves grabbing for the guardrail to stay on their feet. As the water calms, they start to laugh, their voices shaky with adrenaline. And they’re _soaked_. Before anyone can offer an opinion on these events, the tusk reappears, tall and proud, breaking the surface of the water more slowly this time like a monarch surveying his kingdom.

“Well would you look at that?” Gladio says, awed.

Beside him, Ignis nods in agreement. “Magnificent.”

Noct realises in all the excitement that he'd forgotten about Ignis. Bismarck is still there, but Noct's gaze is drawn to the sheer joy on the other man’s face at getting to see this legendary creature in the flesh. He wants to say something, to echo the breathless sentiment expressed by the man who is his kin in all but blood, but instead he stays quiet and just lets Ignis _look_.

It’s devastating to know the imminent fate of this hard-working, generous man. More devastating still to know there’s nothing he can do to change it. Time will follow its predetermined course no matter how unfair. Noct’s long since accepted his own fate—his and Lunafreya's, because they’ll be reunited in the next life—but this is the part that hurts him the most. Knowing what comes next for Ignis, and how long and how painful the road back for him will be.

First time around, he’d listened to their complaints and they’d sailed back to Altissia having never located Bismarck. Then the shit had well and truly hit the fan and Ignis's suggestion that they simply try again another day had never happened. When he’d realised that he could make a brief visit to his old life before returning to Insomnia, Noct had known exactly how he wanted to spend that time. At least he was able to right this wrong and give Ignis this before— Noct doesn’t finish the thought, instead swallowing hard against the lump in his throat.

Eventually Bismarck leaves, taking his crown of gulls with him. For a moment the only sound is the roar of the waves as the whale's enormous tail breeches the water and crashes down again, propelling him away. The shutter on Prompto's camera finally falls silent.

“That was incredible,” Gladio announces, the grin clear in his voice.

“Totally!” Prompto shakes his head in disbelief at what they’ve just seen. “I’m even up for watching the Great Noct Gar do a bit more fishing after that!”

“Let’s get set up before all the fish leave too,” Gladio agrees and the two of them hurry away to grab all the equipment, leaving Noct alone on the deck with Ignis.

Ignis still has that slightly dreamy expression on his face, which is far removed from the stoic façade he prides himself on. It's a rare, privileged glimpse beyond his carefully constructed defences and Noct knows he’s all the richer for having seen it. After tomorrow... it’ll be awhile before Ignis truly smiles again, making this bittersweet moment all the more important.

“Worth it?” Noct asks. He daren't say anymore in case his voice cracks.

Ignis smiles and nods. His hand goes to Noct's shoulder and he gives it an affectionate squeeze as he passes. “Definitely worth it. Thank you, Noct. I’m glad I got to see him.”

“Me too, Specs,” Noct says softly after Ignis has gone to join the others and can no longer bear witness to the tear that slides down his face.

“Me too.”

**End**


End file.
